(This is found translated in the same volume last
referred to, Epistle cxcix., p. 236 et seqq.)

Canon XVII.

I made a canon, that they at Antioch, who had sworn not
to perform the sacred offices should not do it publicly, but in private
only: As to Bianor, he is removed from thence to Iconium, and
therefore is more at liberty; but let him repent of his rash oath which
he made to an infidel for avoiding a small danger.

Canon XVIII.

That the ancients received a professed virgin that had
married, as one guilty of digamy, viz., upon one year’s penance;
but they ought to be dealt with more severely than widows professing
continency, and even as adulterers: But they ought not to be
admitted to profess virginity till they are above sixteen or seventeen
years of age, after trial, and at their own earnest request; whereas
relations often offer them that are under age, for their own secular
ends, but such ought not easily to be admitted.

Canon XIX.

That men, though they seem tacitly to promise celibacy,
by becoming monks, yet do it not expressly; yet I think fit that they
606be interrogated too, and that a
profession should be demanded of them, that if they betake themselves
to a carnal life, they may be punished as fornicators.

Canon XX.

Women professing virginity, though they did marry while
they were heretics, or catechumens, yet are pardoned by baptism.
What is done by persons in the state of catechumens, is never laid to
their charge.

Canon XXI.

A married man committing lewdness with a single woman,
is severely punished as guilty of fornication, but we have no canon to
treat such a man as an adulterer; but the wife must co-habit with such
a one: But if the wife be lewd, she is divorced, and he that
retains her is [thought] impious; such is the custom, but the reason of
it does not appear.

Canon XXII.

That they who have stolen virgins, and will not restore
them, be treated as fornicators; that they be one year mourners, the
second hearers, the third received to repentance and the fourth be
co-standers, and then admitted to communion of the Good Thing. If
the virgins be restored to those who had espoused them, it is at their
discretion to marry them, or not; if to their guardians, it is at their
discretion to give them in marriage to the raptors, or not.

Canon XXIII.

That a man ought not to marry two sisters, nor a woman
two brothers: That he who marries his brother’s wife, be
not admitted till he dismiss her.

Canon XXIV.

A widow put into the catalogue of widows, that is, a
deaconess being sixty years old, and marrying, is not to be admitted to
communion of the Good Thing, till she cease from her uncleanness; but
to a widower that marries no penance is appointed, but that of
digamy. If the widow be less than sixty, it is the bishop’s
fault who admitted her deaconess, not the woman’s.

Canon XXV.

He that marries a woman that he has corrupted, shall be
under penance for corrupting her, but may retain her for his wife.

Canon XXVI.

Fornication is neither marriage, nor the beginning of
marriage. If it may be, it is better that they who have committed
fornication together be parted; but if they be passionate lovers, let
them not separate, for fear of what is worse.

Canon XXVII.

As for the priest that is engaged, through ignorance, in
an unlawful marriage, I have decreed, that he retain the honour of the
chair; but forbear all sacred operations, and not give the blessing
either in private, or public, nor distribute the Body of Christ to
another, nor perform any liturgy; but let him bewail himself to the
Lord, and to men, that his sin of ignorance may be pardoned.

Canon XXVIII.

That it is ridiculous to vow not to eat swine’s
flesh, and to abstain from it is not necessary.

Canon XXIX.

That princes ought not to swear to wrong their
subjects: that such rash oaths ought to be repented of, and evil
not to be justified under pretence of religion.

Canon XXX.

That they who steal women, and their accomplices, be not
admitted to prayers, or be co-standers for three years. Where no
violence is used, there no crime is committed, except there be lewdness
in the case. A widow is at her own discretion. We must not
mind vain pretences.

Canon XXXI.

She, whose husband is absent from home, if she co-habits
with another man, before she is persuaded of his death, commits
adultery.

Canon XXXII.

The clergyman who is deposed for mortal sin, shall not
be excommunicated.

Canon XXXIII.

That a woman being delivered of a child in a journey,
and taking no care of it, shall be reputed guilty of murder.

Canon XXXIV.

That the crime of women under penance for adultery, upon
their own confession, or 607otherwise
convicted, be not published, lest it occasion their death; but that
they remain out of communion the appointed time.

Canon XXXV.

If a woman leave her husband, and if it do upon inquiry
appear, that she did it without reason, she deserves to be punished;
but let him continue in communion.

Canon XXXVI.

A soldier’s wife marrying after the long absence
of her husband, but before she is certified of his death, is more
pardonable than another woman, because it is more credible that he may
be dead.

Canon XXXVII.

That he, who having another man’s wife or spouse
taken away from him, marries another, is guilty of adultery with the
first, not with the second.

Canon XXXVIII.

If a woman run after him that has corrupted her, she
shall be under penance three years, though the parents be reconciled to
her.

Canon XXXIX.

She, who continues to live with an adulterer, is all
that time an adulteress.

Canon XL.

She that [being a slave] gives herself up to the will of
a man, without the consent of her master, commits fornication; for
pacts of those who are under the power of others are null.

Canon XLI.

A widow being at her own discretion, may marry to whom
she will.

Canon XLII.

Slaves marrying without the consent of their masters, or
children without consent of their fathers, it is not matrimony but
fornication, till they ratify it by consenting.

Canon XLIII.

That he who gives a mortal wound to another is a
murderer, whether he were the first aggressor, or did it in his own
defence.

Canon XLIV.

The deaconess that has committed lewdness with a pagan
is not to be received to communion, but shall be admitted to the
oblation, in the seventh year—that is, if she live in
chastity. The pagan, who after [he has professed] the faith,
betakes himself again to sacrilege, returns [like the dog] to his
vomit: we therefore do not permit the sacred body of a deaconess
to be carnally used.

Canon XLV.

He that assumes the name of a Christian, but reproaches
Christ, shall have no advantage from his name.

Canon XLVI.

She that marries a man who was deserted for a while by
his wife, but is afterward dismissed upon the return of the man’s
former wife, commits fornication, but ignorantly: she shall not
be prohibited marriage, but it is better that she do not marry.

Canon XLVII.

Encratites, Saccophorians, and Apotactites, are in the
same case with the Novatians. We re-baptize them all. There
is a diversity in the canons relating to the Novatians, no canon
concerning the other. If it be forbid with you, as it is at Rome
for prudential causes, yet let reason prevail. They are a branch
of the Marcionists; and though they baptize in the name of the three
divine Persons, yet they make God the author of evil, and assert, that
wine and the creatures of God, are defiled. The bishops ought to
meet, and so to explain the canon, that he who does [baptize such
heretics] may be out of danger, and that one may have a positive answer
to give to those that ask it.

Canon XLVIII.

A woman dismissed from her husband, ought to remain
unmarried, in my judgment.

Canon XLIX.

If a slave be forced by her master, she is innocent.

Canon L.

We look on third marriages as disgraceful to the Church,
but do not absolutely condemn them, as being better than a vague
fornication.